India’s largest private refiner, Reliance Industries, will import about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of non-sanctioned Russian crude from February, as it limits intake from Russia and complies with the U.S. sanctions, a source with knowledge of the procurement plans told Bloomberg on Thursday.
Before the U.S. sanctions on Russia’s top producers Rosneft and Lukoil, Reliance Industries of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani was the biggest buyer of Russian crude oil, importing more than 500,000 bpd thanks to a long-term deal with Rosneft.
However, the Indian refiner halted all Rosneft purchases in the wake of the U.S. sanctions and took to procuring crude from non-Russian sources.
Now, Reliance will import only limited volumes of crude from Russia, all of it non-sanctioned, according to Bloomberg’s source, as India looks to cut overall Russian crude intake to appease the Trump Administration in tough trade talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump has singled out India as a target to punish for buying large volumes of Russian crude oil and supporting the Kremlin’s energy revenues. President Trump doubled the 25% tariff on India to 50% as of August 2025, to punish it for continued purchase of Russian oil.
In light of the trade talks and in compliance with the U.S. sanctions on Russian producers, Reliance is set to significantly limit the intake of Russian crude to about 150,000 bpd, compared to over 550,000 bpd just a few months ago.
The Russian crude will be processed at Reliance’s huge refinery at Jamnagar, at the unit processing fuels for the domestic market, as the EU enacted last week a new ban on imports of petroleum products. The EU banned, effective January 21, imports into the bloc of petroleum products obtained in third countries that are derived from Russian-origin crude oil.
In November, Reliance stopped processing any Russian crude at its export-oriented refinery units to be sure it complies with this ban.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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